It's pretty easy to see one of the problems with - Transcend supervisors.

...and probably those of some other companies as well.  Transcend supervisors are expected to oversee teams of up to 35 MTs, keep the account in TAT, mentor their people to improve their performance, ride herd on "mavericks", monitor the account status and do all of the other typical supervisory chores....

....while transcribing 75 to 80% of the time. 

....in exchange for which they are paid a stipend of $700 a month.

Now, there is so much wrong with this picture that I won't belabor the point, but it's just another example of a transcription company that wants to have its cake and eat it too.  In this case, they want an individual who is handling two jobs simultaneously, each of which is nearly full-time in its demands. 

I've read a number of complaints about Transcend supervisors who have seemed to be, shall we say, less than "leadership" types in terms of their communications with their people.  They've been terse and seemingly impatient - but I for one think we have to cut them some slack.  I have no difficulty at all in seeing these people having to work long hours, sometimes six or seven days a week, in order to meet these expectations.  I have no difficulty at all seeing people who are frazzled beyond frazzle, and I have no difficulty saying that $700 a month for their "second job" is hardly adequate compensation.

Transcend wants supervisors, but they don't really want supervisors.  So if you work for Transcend and you have a "good" supervisor - thank your lucky stars (and your supervisor), because Transcend had nothing to do with that bit of good fortune.  In fact, they do everything possible to make it highly unlikely that you'll get a good supervisor.

On the other hand, if you have a "bad" supervisor, you might cut them some slack, because Transcend has done everything possible to make it highly likely that they're much less than the supervisor they could be if someone at the upper levels of Transcend took some time off for a course in basic business management principles -or, better yet, how to build high-speed, low-drag teams.

There's nothing wrong, per se, with a "transcribing supervisor".  However, the expectation here (75-80% of time spent transcribing) is simply self-defeating.  There's a story of a man who was walking in the woods and came upon a lumberjack who was hacking and hacking and hacking at a tree.  Sweat was pouring off him, and yet he was making very little progress.

"You need to sharpen your axe", said the man.

"What?!  Can't you see that I'm too busy to stop and sharpen my axe?" replied the lumberjack.

The team is the axe, and the lumberjack is the supervisor.  Chopping down that tree is the "mission" of the team.  Hewing away at the tree while the axe becomes duller and duller is precisely how Transcend sets up the supervisor's position.

The appropriate expectation for a "transcribing supervisor" is that SUPERVISION MUST COME FIRST, and its demands must dictate how much transcribing the supervisor does personally.  One week it might be 50%, another week it might be somewhat more or somewhat less.  But here we have the tail wagging the dog, to use another metaphor.  Instead of the supervisory responsibilities on a given day dictating how much transcribing the supervisor does, we have a (ridiculous) transcription expectation (for the supervisor) dictating how much supervising they can do.

Absurd, folks...and not very bright, either.  To Transcend management - your supervisors would be more valuable to you if you turned your model around and had them spending the majority of their time sharpening the axe.  It's the axe that does the work.

Building high-performance teams is challenging work, and it involves much more than sending out email messages, scolding people:  "Why didn't you work your shift yesterday, you lazy git?"  JOB ONE for a team leader can be expressed in one of two ways:

1.  Every single member of the team is empowered and shown (specifically) how to maximize their potential and minimize their shortcomings.

2.  Every single member of the team embraces and supports the team's success, and identifies with the mission on a deeply personal level.

...and I apologize for the redundancy, because #1 is precisely the same thing as #2.  Accomplishing these ideals means that the supervisor does team building FIRST and transcribes in the "cracks" of time available.  She does NOT transcribe first and build her team in the "cracks" of time left over.